Cimmerian

A Novel of the Holocaust

By: Ronald Watkins

Narrated by: Wayne June

In the final months of World War Two, a young German finds himself serving as a guard at a Nazis concentration camp. Having escaped the horror of the Eastern Front he now descends into a new kind of Hell. The Holocaust told through the eyes of the oppressor. Powerful and relentless. A must listen.

©2011 Ronald J. Watkins (P)2014 Ronald J. Watkins

Gazing into the Abyss

There are a lot of holocaust books out there…this may be one of the darkest I have ever read. It’s a fictionalized account of a young soldier whose career leads him to the Waffen SS and work as a guard at a death camp. It covers the practicalities and brutalities of the process of mass murder with a steely eye and it’s very disturbing. The closest movie equivalent I can come up with is The Grey Zone. Both deal with the mundane cruelty of the holocaust in horrifying and believable detail. It’s tough to know how to recommend this book. If you are interested in the period and the despicable process which was The Shoa then you will likely find this an interesting if horrifying listen. I’d be pushed to recommend it otherwise…it’s just too dark. Night by Elie Wiesel or Schindler’s list convey the horror without being quite as gut wrenching as this book. It’s well read and it’s a good book but listen with care…you won’t be able to un-hear this….and you may want to.

Well... that was dark.

Any additional comments?

This book struck me as something that should be read and discussed in a philosophy class. it is really good at showing how people rationalize their evils in their minds and can't accept them for what they are or what they represent. I was pleased with the book, but it does get darker near the end and disturbing.